Drama mine

Director Paul Greengrass is no stranger when it comes to reenacting some of the scariest moments of real life. In 2006 he brought one aspect of the tragedies of 9/11 to life with United 93. Now seven years later he goes from terror in the sky to terror in the ocean with Captain Phillips. Based on events from the 2009 incident involving Somali pirates attacking a U.S. cargo ship, Greengrass has once again created a gripping, intense thriller.

The first part of the film deals with the cargo ship's initial voyage. During this time we meet the crew, including the titular captain (played by Tom Hanks). While the scenes serve primarily as exposition to establish the characters, most of the scenes feel very fresh. Few films today deal with modern day sailing, especially in a vessel like a cargo ship. So to hear and see what's involved in the day to day operations was fascinating. So too were the early scenes involving the crew's efforts to prevent the pirates from coming on board. It is clear that some measures are known and in place to hopefully prevent any attack, but when those plans fail, it is interesting to see the creativity that these men attempt to use in order to get out of the ordeal safely.

If you're familiar with the story, then you know that the pirates eventually take Captain Phillips hostage on a lifeboat and try to flee back to Somalia. This part of the film is the most difficult to watch. They are difficult primarily because of Greengrass' efforts to give realism to the way these scenes are film. Greengrass effectively shoots these scenes within extremely cramped quarters on choppy waters. The end result is likely to give some both claustrophobia and seasickness. What works best about these scenes, however, is that we learn more about these pirates instead of seeing them simply as faceless villains. The leader of this group, is a rail-thin man who goes by Muse. He's played very well by real life Somali, Barkhad Abdi. We see the internal struggle that this man goes through as he is desperate to prove himself to others while recognizes that some of the decisions to accomplish that goes against his sense of human decency. You realize that not every pirate is doing this as an act of terror, but as a means of survival.

As the Navy gets involved in trying to get Captain Phillips back from his captors, the intensity level gets ramped up to a whole new level. Even though most likely know how this story ends I will not divulge those details here. All I will say is that I was in awe of the acting performance Hanks gives in the film's closing minutes. You completely forget you are watching an actor and truly believe you are watching someone who has actually experienced a horrific ordeal. I know the race for Best Actor will be extremely competitive this year, but I am willing to give it to Hanks already for his work in those scenes alone. He once again proves why he is truly one of our best actors around.

Like Gravity, this film does not boast a large cast. Oddly enough Catherine Keener shows up in the very first scene of the film playing Phillips' wife and then is never seen from again for the rest of the movie. Instead Greengrass keeps the film streamlined and focused on the primary conflict. This is likely for the best because we become so much more invested in this story without a lot of superfluous characters or unnecessary subplots. What is left is another excellent tale of one man's quest for survival.

Given that I saw this film on the last day it was available at my local theater, you may have to wait until it comes out on DVD before you have a chance to see if you have not done so already. If that's the case, I would highly recommend it. Unlike Gravity, which demands to be seen on the big screen and in 3D, Captain Phillips is a film that will be just as effective on the small screen. You owe it to yourself to learn more about this incredible story and to witness some excellent acting from the film's primary leads. In a crowded field this awards season, this film may get a bit lost at sea, but it is still worthy of high praise. Grade: A-

RBR: 2 Guns

You would never hear anyone note similarities in the acting styles of Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg and yet teaming them together has produced quite the charismatic pair in 2 Guns, an action thriller from earlier this year. Washington is a DEA agent and Wahlberg is a Marine who have teamed up to take down a Mexican drug lord (played by Edward James Olmos) without fully revealing to the other who they really are or their motivations. The banter between them provides the film with a nice spark that resembles some of the pairing of great 80s buddy cop movies like Lethal Weapon or 48 Hours. Because these two keep their plans from each other, it sets up a number of other characters in the film who also have their own agendas. While it makes the story a bit preposterous, it is also exciting because you cannot immediately tell how things will turn out. Paula Patton fills the sex appeal role playing a fellow agent working with Washington. I would have actually like to see a bit more development in her character, but she's at least easy on the eyes. Given the breezy chemistry that the two leads had it is disappointing that the film opted to have the action portrayed in such a violent manner. The film's title is quite the misnomer given that way more than two guns are used. The violence shown here suggests a grittier film than the way Washington and Wahlberg play things. A more consistent film would have produced something great. As it is, this merely settles for being a solidly entertaining film and makes me interested in seeing these two leads team up again either in a sequel or in an unrelated project. Rating: ****

RBR: We're the Millers

This comedy about a small time drug dealer who pretends to have a family so he can smuggle a large quantity of marijuana across the border turned out to be a surprise hit earlier this year. Now having seen it on DVD, its success is that much more surprising to me. For one, movies that come in August typically are not poised to be blockbusters. But the bigger reason is that the film's humor and subject matter do not seem like they would lend themselves to a mainstream hit. Credit the likeable cast for driving this creaky premise into a film that does enough to get by. SNL's Jason Sudekis plays the drug dealer who rounds up Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts, and Will Poulter to play his family members. The film also features appearances from comedians including Ed Helms, Nick Offerman, and Kathryn Hahn. The humor here is very hit and miss. I found too many of the gags had decent setups with weak payoffs. The bigger issue though was poor character development. Almost everyone here is inconsistent and behaves in a manner that suits the joke and the role they play in it. Unfortunately, I found there to be very few surprises offered here. Given that this is a film that is relying on half of its jokes to work based on shock value, that's a problem. I also found the film to be a bit too cynical at times regarding the American dream and suburban family life. It feels like they want the characters to take a jaded attitude toward that lifestyle, but the actors seem to be good representatives of it. I did not find myself actively hating this film like other pathetic comedies I have seen this year, but I also was left confused as to what was offered here that struck a nerve with so many viewers to cause it to earn as much as it did at the box office. To me this is the epitome of an average film that gets by with its pleasant actors engaging in some occasionally humorous antics. Rating: ** 1/2

The great space coaster

Every day seems to bring new awards nominations or critics top ten lists, which is a sign that I need to start watching some of these movies so I can tell whether or not I agree with everyone else. First up is a film that is generating quite a lot of Oscar buzz, Alfonso Cuaron's space thriller, Gravity.

There have been a lot of movies that focus on a main character having a "very bad day", but few could rival the one that astronaut Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) experiences in this movie. Stone is a medical engineer, but because of her knowledge and expertise in her field has been asked to go on a mission in space. One of her fellow astronauts is Matt Kowalski (George Clooney), who is veteran space traveler. He's done so many trips that he has to humor himself by retelling the same stories to mission control as he floats around. While on a routine spacewalk, the crew learns that debris from a damaged satellite is floating in their direction. Before they can get back inside the ship the debris hurtles towards them causing damage to their ship and severing Stone's tether.

From there we spend the next 90 minutes or so in a state of sustained tension as we watch whether or not Stone will be able to survive this perilous predicament. So may argue that the plot is too simplistic, but this is a case of less is more. The trials and tribulations that this character encounters are simply enthralling. We are presented with a "worst case scenario" of events for this character, yet all of it remains grounded and plausible. Even though most of us will never have the opportunity to experience what it is like to go up in space, you feel as if you are right there besides Stone as she struggles to find her way back to her ship.

The primary reason for such a shared sense of experience while watching this film comes from its amazing visual artistry. Cuaron has simply created a wonderfully looking film. I was thankful to have the opportunity to see this film in 3D and it's the first movie since Avatar to feel like it's worth the upgrade in price. Cuaron does not just have the look of space correct, he creates these long tracking shots to really make you feel where you are. This has been a hallmark of his filmmaking in the past, but it has never been better than it is here.

This is also a director who is more than someone who has fallen in love with his location. He knows how to shoot his actors. There is a beautiful looking shot midway through the film where he depicts Stone as if she was an infant still in the womb. This adventure puts her into a whole new world for sure and it is captivating to watch her try and catch her bearings in such a foreign environment.

While Bullock will likely get the majority of attention for her tour de force performance here, I do not want to slight George Clooney in any way (not that he's struggling without my endorsement, but that's neither here nor there). Although his time on screen is brief, he holds your attention like few other actors today can for the time that he is there. The interplay between him and Bullock ranges from light-hearted to deeply philosophical and all of it is interesting.

Simply put, this movie works on all levels. It's a visual wonder, a captivating thriller, and a display of everyone involved working at their highest level. Without having seen enough of the other potential contenders, I cannot say for certainty that this should win, but I have no qualms about it if it is bestowed that highest honor. Cuaron and company have reached for the stars and somehow managed to soar even above those lofty expectations. Grade: A

Ronning the show

The Anchorman 2 media blitz continues. This time Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy helps anchor an actual newscast in North Dakota. Check out some of the highlights from his appearance below.

The World is not enough

Even though I saw it on opening weekend, I am once again behind the times when it comes to my movie reviews. In this case, it's for the latest entry in the Marvel film universe, Thor: The Dark World. This is the second solo film for the man with the mighty hammer, although he of course played an integral role in last summer's The Avengers as well.

While Thor's focus has been mainly on helping Earth in his previous adventures, this latest film sees him back in his home of Asgard. With his brother, the evil manipulative Loki (Tom Hiddleston) safely locked away in prison, Thor is enjoying peace among the worlds and poised to take over the throne from his father, Odin (played by Anthony Hopkins). Of course, peace and quiet does not last for very long as an dangerous army of dark elves, led by Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) is awakened and has set their sights on destroying Asgard and all of the other worlds in order to bring darkness across the entire universe.

The dark elves were reawakened thanks to Thor's Earth-bound love interest Jane Foster (played once again by Natalie Portman). While conducting some scientific research, Jane discovers the mysterious Aether, a substance that is the key to the dark elves' existence and their plan to bring darkness to the universe.

If all of this sounds a bit murky, shall we say, and confusing, then you're not alone. Once again Marvel has struggled to come up with a compelling villain to square off against one of its primary superheroes. The structure of the Marvel universe and the way these films are presented has certainly yielded big business but is also creatively putting them into a bind. The writers of these films are stuck with trying to find a villain that's compelling enough to be the focus of the film, yet not strong enough to make it reasonable that they can be dealt with by simply one hero as opposed to the entire Avenger team. Coupled with that is a lack of endgame to these films. As a result, each one is feeling procedural and perfunctory.

That is not to say that this film is not without its merits. Chris Hemsworth has embodied this larger than life character so smoothly that it makes you struggle to see anyone else but him in this role. And despite being imprisoned at the beginning of the film, there is still plenty of Loki found in this movie. He plays of Hemsworth and the cast very well to bring add some humor and malevolence to the scenes he is in. It is a shame that the Marvel films cannot develop additional villains that are as compelling as him. Let's hope that changes soon because they will be unable to keep going back to the Loki well every time.

Those who are fans of the fantasy genre will likely get more mileage out of this film than I did. Director Alan Taylor, who has worked in the past on shows like Game of Thrones knows how to stage the action nicely. He probably would have been better severed with having a film that remained exclusively in Asgard. The split time between Asgard and Earth presents some limitations. For one, too many characters from each world gets introduced without proper development. The Earth scenes are also problematic for the sake that they feel obligatory. It was as if the producers felt viewers would be turned off if the film wasn't at least partially rooted in our own world.

Too me, the Thor character works best as a team member rather than a solo star. This is certainly no knock on Hemworth. I just find myself caring less about Asgardian politics and more about seeing Thor just smash things with his hammer. As a weekend afternoon diversion, Thor: The Dark World is perfectly acceptable theater. But if you're looking for something truly epic, you'll have to keep waiting. This is a case of a lot of thunder, but the storm is still far off in the distance. Grade: B-

RBR: The To Do List

After last year's quirky Safety Not Guaranteed, it became apparent that Parks and Recreations's Aubrey Plaza has the potential to be a leading lady in films. In The To Do List she tries her hand at the R-rated comedy genre. She plays Brandy Klark, an over-achieving high school grad who realizes that for all she knows, she's uninformed when it comes to sex. She sets out to learn everything that there is to know before she heads off to college and treats it in the same organized fashion that she would studying for chemistry or history. Surrounding her is a cast of funny regulars in films like these including Alia Shawkat, Donald Glover, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Andy Samberg. Working as a lifeguard for the summer Brandy encounters several guys who are more than willing to help her check off her list items. The movie plays out in a similar fashion as other "high schooler wants to get laid before college" movies, but this one just doesn't work like it should. Part of the problem is the disconnect between what the central character should be and what she really is. For as talented as Plaza is, she makes Brandy too poised and mature for a character that has supposedly had her nose in a book her entire life. She achieves her tasks too easily and hardly shows any awkwardness. Even though it's a natural setting for this type of film, I also question why he character would want to be a lifeguard. The bigger problem with the film is that too many of the jokes simply don't land. Some of the fault here lies with writer/director Maggie Carey. She's working with a solid idea but does not seem to know exactly how to mine it for the most value. The one exception of this is with Bill Hader, who runs the swimming pool that Brandy works at. He manages to produce laughs in every scene that he's in. This may be due to the fact that Hader is married to Carey. Given their relationship, she probably just let him loose and have his natural comedic talent shine. The rest of the cast though needed a bit more direction in order to make the material work. This is not a bad film, just one that did not live up to its potential. Hopefully 'make a better film' will be on Carey's to do list. Rating: *** 1/2

RBR: The Hangover Part III

A lot of people spent a lot of time griping over The Hangover Part II, knocking it for being basically a carbon copy of the first film. While I felt the criticism was a bit overblown, I understood it given how much people loved the first film. Despite the complaints, the fervor for the series was still there to encourage everyone to make a third film. So it was to my surprise that Part III came and went with hardly any discussion at all. There was no anger, yet no proclamations of the series returning back to form. It seemed odd until I finally had a chance to watch the film for myself and see that this was basically a Hangover movie in name only. Sure the members of the Wolfpack are all back but there is no blackout drunkenness nor the hilarity that goes along with it. This plays more like a straight forward action thriller than it does a comedy. I almost wonder if director Todd Phillips made this film out of spite. As if to say that if people didn't want a repeat of the first movie then he would give them the complete opposite. The plot centers around Doug getting kidnapped by a drug dealer (John Goodman) who won't release him unless the rest of the Wolfpack brings him Mr. Chow, who has stolen a large amount of money from him. In their quest to find and capture Chow, the film attempts to provide some closure to the events of the first two films, but none of it yields very many laughs. In fact the biggest laughs come from the post credits scene which most closely resembles something you would have seen in one of the first two films (perhaps lending more credence to my spite theory). At this point, it seems that the book has finally closed the Wolfpack. It is a shame that they chose to do so in a way that leaves the audience feeling wounded and hurt rather than howling with laughter. Rating: ** 1/2

RBR: Monsters University

We have long known that Pixar spoiled movie goers with the quality of the movies that they put out for over a decade. Audiences and critics began to realize that producing classic after classic is not a given based on Pixar's recent streak of underwhelming efforts. It was not only taken for granted that each film they made would be great, but that even their sequels would be just as good as their original films. When you look at both of the Toy Story sequels, it is remarkable how they were able to maintain such excellence. A large part of that was likely due to them having a clear vision for what the stories should be for each of those films. We saw actual character development and a defined story arc related to life and mortality. The same cannot be said for Monsters University, a prequel to 2001's Monsters Inc.. Unlike with Woody and the gang, it seems as if the Pixar crew has no idea what to do with Mike and Sully. The concept of taking a look at them in college is intriguing, although a bit odd for a movie aimed at such a young audience. The fact that they essentially do a Revenge of the Nerds ripoff is disappointing. There are plenty of colorful characters and jokes that work regardless of how old you are, but none of this feels innovative or fresh. If this were merely a Saturday morning cartoon extension of the franchise, I probably would not be as hard on them. But for them to revisit these characters nearly a decade later, I expected something more worthwhile. From a technical standpoint, there's nothing wrong here. However, this film is more representative of a student who coasts through school on decent grades rather than the valedictorian who puts everything they've got into making sure they are the best. Rating: ***

Playing the race card

As usual, I'm way late on getting to one of my reviews, but at least this one will be a full one and not a quick hit, so take what you can get.

When you think of some of the greatest athletes in their respective sports, it could be argued that they would not have achieved their greatness had it not been for a rival who equaled them in skill and forced them to be even better. That is certainly true for the two men at the center of Rush, a film about the real-life rivalry of Formula 1 racers James Hunt and Niki Lauda. Directed by Ron Howard, this film gives us one of the best stories about rivalry that I have ever seen.

Hunt (played by Chris Hemsworth) is a blond-haired playboy who has seen success in every venture of his life. Before moving up to Formula 1, he relishes as the big fish in the small pond. His first true taste of competition comes from Lauda (played by Daniel Bruhl). His calculated efforts to be the fastest on the track rub Hunt the wrong way. After establishing these characters, the film focuses on the 1976 season as both men risk everything in order to be champion.

What makes their story interesting is how these two were true opposites. Hunt had his dashing good looks and carefree attitude. Lauda was more the intellectual, using his brains to gain a competitive. Hunt was a people person, while Lauda was stand-offish and brusk. Having a rival be your polar opposite is not a new storytelling device. Yet what makes Rush stand out is that neither man is portrayed negatively or as the villain here. Each man has their strengths and their weaknesses. Howard lets history dictate how we feel about these individuals rather than telling us who we should root for.

Howard should also be commended for the way he is able to depict the racing scenes themselves. You gain the thrill and exhilaration of watching the races just as if you were at the speedway yourself. Howard does not shy away from the dangerous nature of the sport. Scenes involves crashes and wrecks are realistically shown, neither sugar-coating the scares nor exploiting the violence. If you are at all familiar with the rivalry between the two, you know that Lauda is involved in a life-threatening crash midway through the season. We watch in shocked amazement as he refuses to let the accident deter his motivation to be the best

While the focus is on the events on the track, we do get glimpses into the personal lives of these two and the roles they played on their ability to win. Each man has varying levels of success when it comes to their love life. Hunt, for instance, sees his marriage (his wife is played by Olivia Wilde) fall apart in the midst of the season. Although Howard is right to focus on the racing, I would have liked to see him flesh out the women in these guys' lives more fully

Given that Howard does not take as many creative liberties with their story as some directors do when telling the real life stories of other notable people, there are not a lot of surprises here if you are at familiar with the outcome of the '76 season. I personally did not know the end result so I was fully engrossed in how things would play out. However, others may feel cheated that the film does not offer more than a summary of their competitive season.

Credit goes to both Hemsworth and Bruhl for their performances here. Both are outstanding in fully fleshing out who these men were and showing their complexities. I would imagine many will come to the film simply for the racing scenes and will leave surprise as to how good both of these men are in their respective roles. In a different year, I could see either one earn some awards buzz, but I have a feeling this year will have too crowded of a field for their work to be recognized.

I cannot say that I am a huge fan of car racing, but the competitive nature of athletes does capture my attention. For that reason, this movie is excellent. Its story transcends the featured sport and focuses more on the will to win. That is a theme that anyone can relate to. When it comes to athlete biopics, this one is able to rush ahead of the pack. Grade: A-

RBR: RED 2 (Quick hits)

This one is not available on home movie yet, but it is long gone from the theaters, so we'll just stick it here and be done with it. Those who were fans of the first RED film, will get another dose of the same here. Thankfully I enjoyed the first one and found enough to like here as well. It mostly comes from seeing this group of aging stars have a lot of fun blowing stuff up real good. Could they have done something more interesting from a storytelling perspective? Absolutely. But this is the type of film that matinee theaters were built for. It's harmless entertainment that keeps you engaged for a few hours but then you'll likely quickly forget about a few days after you watched it. There's no need to do a third film in this series, but if they opted to do so, I wouldn't be totally against it. This was certainly better than most of Bruce Willis' efforts (A Good Day to Die Hard, G.I. Joe: Retaliation) this year. Rating: *** 1/2

If you aint Ryan, you aint trying

The release of the first trailer for the new film Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit takes on a more somber tone with the news this week of the passing of author Tom Clancy, who was the creator of the Jack Ryan character. While this film is based on an original story, it seems to still be very much rooted in the themes of geopolitics that Clancy was known for in his books. You can check out the trailer for yourself below.

RBR: Oblivion

If you look at the evolution of the public's perception of the space program, you see how those first few missions had audiences utterly captivating. We were seeing something we had never seen before and that we never thought we would ever see. Over time, those missions became so routine and familiar that we stopped caring. That is basically how I felt as I watched Oblivion, the recent sci-fi thriller starring Tom Cruise. Cruise plays Jack Harper, one of the few remaining people left on Earth after an attack left the planet inhabitable. He's tasked with fixing the drone machines that scour the planet to eliminate any remaining alien threats. Jack's memory of the attack and his life before it have been wiped clean, yet he keeps having flashes to what he believes is moments from his past life. Things get more complicated when a woman (Olga Kurylenko) he sees in those dreams crashes onto Earth. There's also a secret group of humans, led by Morgan Freeman (between this, Olympus Has Fallen, and Now You See Me, I'm beginning to see this guy in my sleep) who try to assist Jack in understanding the truth about what is going on. I won't give away any of the film's big twists here, but I would imagine that by the description I have already given you, you can draw comparisons to this movie and several other more famous sci-fi films. From a story perspective, this film offers you absolutely nothing new. The movie initially hooks you in because it has a tremendous look. Director Joseph Kosinski (TRON: Legacy) has a great knack at creating worlds that have an impressive visual aesthetic. It's fun watching Cruise fly around in unique looking spaceships across a barren Earth that still looks somewhat inviting even if no one can live on it. But once the thrill of the film's look is gone, you are left with an empty story that plods along to its inevitable conclusion. With a decent TV, Oblivion still has some value on home video for its visual effects, but if you're looking for a decent story, you're better off renting one of the dozen classic sci-fi films that tell these tropes much more effectively. Rating: ***

RBR: Now You See Me

Portraying magic in the movies can be just as difficult as performing a trick in real life. Both require a lot of misdirection before a final reveal that needs to payoff. In Now You See Me, the crime thriller that came out last May, a group of magicians and illusionists band together to perform tricks that seemingly involve robbing banks. The group, known as the Four Horsemen, consists of Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, and Dave Franco. After committing their first trick/robbery, they are put under investigation by a cop played by Mark Ruffalo and an Interpol agent played by Melanie Laurent. Also involved is Michael Caine who is producing the Four Horsemen's act and Morgan Freeman as a magician who has built a career out of revealing magicians' secrets to the public. As you can see, there are a lot of moving parts at play here. This enables there to never be a dull moment in the film, but is also prevents us from really getting to know any of the characters all that well. The most development comes from the budding romance between Ruffalo and Laurent, but I found that to be the weakest part of the film. Meanwhile, director Louis Leterrier throws a lot of tricks at you, both of the magical and visual kind, that are meant to, and mostly succeed, at enthralling you. This is a movie that begs you to "look closer" in order to try and figure out. While it does a good job of keeping you guessing, I am not sold that the final reveal works. Yet I found it to be a twist that encourages me to watch the film again rather than get annoyed or disgusted. If you let yourself get sucked in to the magic, you will likely find yourself fully entertained. But if you're the type of person who wants to take the magic out of everything, the film gives you plenty of ammunition to hate it. Personally, I was entertained and would gladly be interested in seeing more adventures from The Four Horsemen in the future. Rating: ****

Class act

When Neill Blomkamp's directorial debut came out in 2009, it felt like a bit of fresh air within the sci-fi genre. Finally we had a movie that gave audiences something more than your normal creature feature. With his follow-up effort, Elysium, Blomkamp has once again attempted to blend a social class allegory with science fiction.

Elysium refers to a large space station that hovers over Earth and houses the wealthiest, most elite people while everyone else remains on Earth, which has turned into one big third world country. Elysium's inhabitants not only live a posh lifestyle, they have access to the most advanced technologies, including machines that can cure you of any disease you have. Making sure that those perks remain used by only the privileged is the head of Homeland Security, Secretary Rhodes (Jodie Foster). She stops at no cost to keep Elysium pure, even if it means shooting down ships filled with people trying to sneak into their paradise.

On Earth, things are particularly are particularly grim for Max (Matt Damon). Raised in an orphanage, Max grew up running afoul of the law several times while bouncing from one dead end job to the next. While working at a robotics factory, Max is involved in a machine malfunction that leads to him receiving a lethal dose of radiation. With only five days left to live, Max sets out on a mission to get to Elysium so that he can cure himself.

The set-up for the movie offers tremendous promise. It offers a tantalizing future that is rooted in current day issues of immigration and class warfare. Damon, as always, is terrific in this role as you can sense the weariness his character has for his lifestyle even before he's given a death sentence. The film also has a lot of fan establishing this futuristic Earth that is run by robotic cops and a few corporate leaders who only periodically stay on Earth to make sure their businesses are still functioning properly.

The back half of the film cannot quite live up to the promise established in the beginning unfortunately. Max's quest to make it to Elysium is filled primarily with a lot of noisy action. In order to get on a ship headed to Elysium, Max aligns himself with Julio, a well-connected criminal who wants Max to get him some important information that could take down Elysium and its people. To help him with this mission, Julio fits Max with a robotic exoskeleton that makes him look like a beta version of Robocop. Standing in Max's way is Secretary Rhodes' hired gun, Agent Kruger. Kruger is a rogue thug played by a nearly unrecognizable Sharlto Copley.

Kruger and Max go toe-to-toe on a couple of occasions as the movie progresses. I will admit that Blomkamp's filming of the scenes is impressive. He has a true visual flare for shooting action sequences that feel fresh and engaging. It's just a shame that the scene did nothing for me on an intellectual level. I kept wishing that those scenes would have been balanced out with more scenes of political discourse regarding Elysium's policies. With that said, a little of Foster's Secretary Rhodes goes a long way in this film. Foster is an Oscar winner and has delivered several great performances, but I have no clue what she was going for her as she takes on a baffling accent that is borderline laughable. Any potential for political intrigue is undercut by her performance.

At a time when so many films play it safe or give us the same old story, I respect Blomkamp for providing us with something that feels different. I just wish he would have had the guts to see it all the way through instead of relying on sheer action at the back end of the picture. While the movie may have some flaws, I'm certainly recommending it because I want to see films that takes risks like this get rewarded with viewers. Blomkamp may thumb his nose at the 1 percenters, but with Elysium, he is quickly proving that he belongs in an elite class of directors. Grade: B+

Danny Ocean goes to war

Sorry for the glut of trailers this week, but they've been all good ones. Here's one for The Monuments Men, a movie that was in my Top 5 Most Anticipated for this year. The film stars George Clooney, (who also directs it), Matt Damon, Bill Murray, and John Goodman. Check it out below.

RBR: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

As I've mentioned on here before, I'm a sucker when it comes to movies about magic. When you couple that subject matter with a talented cast that features the likes of Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Alan Arkin, and Jim Carrey, it should equal great success. It's too bad that the people behind The Incredible Burt Wonderstone seem to have no clue what to do with the interesting subject matter or its great actors. This comedy attempts to tell a story about a modern day magician. There are several ways you could take the story - you could do a riff on Sigfried and Roy and the odd nature of their working relationship, you could address how those "Magicians' Secrets Revealed" show have spoiled the fun of magic for a lot of people, you could deal with the rivalry between renegade street magic and more traditional magic. This film touches upon each of those storylines but never delves into any of them deeply enough or in any compelling fashion. Storyline issues aside, the root of the film's problem is their decision to make Carell's character such an insufferable boor. As Wonderstone he's initially portrayed in flashbacks as a sympathetic nerd who uses magic to escape the pains in his life. Once the film moves into present day, we're given no indication as to why he's become so obnoxious to everyone around him. This makes it difficult for us to have any interest in seeing him succeed when his career begins to suffer. The final blow comes during the film's final climatic scenes which reveal Wonderstone's grand illusion. It's not only disappointing to learn how the trick is done, its disturbing to see how unmagical it truly is. Frankly, the only magic trick I want to see now is for someone to make my memory of this movie disappear. Rating: **

RBR: Side Effects

It feels like it's been forever since I actually saw this film, but I'm just now getting around to putting up my review. Let's see how well I can remember my thoughts on it. Rooney Mara stars as Emily, a young woman who is struggling after the recent release of her husband (Channing Tatum) who was doing prison time for insider trading. Emily begins seeing a therapist (Jude Law) who prescribes a new drug to help her deal with her issues. A side effect of the drug is that it causes her to sleepwalk. During one of her sleepwalking episodes she unknowingly stabs her husband with a knife, killing him. From there the film takes several twists and turns as it is unclear as to who truly is responsible for this death. Directed by Steven Soderbergh in what is apparently his last film, Side Effects begins very compelling. Soderbergh creates a great sense of mystery and suspense. The social commentary on the over-reliance on prescription medication also feels fresh and compelling. The film somewhat comes off the rails in the second half with a few too many twists that make it confusing as to some of the characters' motives for their actions and how they benefitted from them. By the film's end you're left unsure as to whether or not the right people got their comeuppance or not. Still, the film is mostly enjoyable thanks to Soderbergh style, which will be missed if he makes his retirement stick. Fans of thrillers would be well off if they made an effort to check this film out. It's an easy prescription for me to fill.

Stay for the Poppins

Apparently, getting Mary Poppins to the silver screen was anything but Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Here's the first trailer for Saving Mr. Banks, the story of Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) and his attempts to convince author PL Travers (Emma Thompson) to turn her book into a movie.

Father time

The teaser was released a few weeks ago and now here's your first full look at Delivery Man, the new dramedy starring Vince Vaughn as a man who has unknowingly fathered over 500 kids.